[1]The folks at Bloomberg News[2]have just released their latest “sucker index”[3] in which they rank state lotteries for how much they actually pay out in prizes in comparison ticket sales and state income.

Interestingly, although North Carolinians spend less per capita on lottery tickets than a lot of the other 42 states with a lottery (we’re 23rd), the state ranks pretty high on the sucker list — 16th out of 43. That’s in large measure because the prize payouts here are so low (28th out of 43).

All of this probably explains why the gambling industry and its allies in state government keep looking for new ways to expand North Carolina’s lottery and Cherokee casino operations: there are strong indicators that North Carolinians have a lot more income to waste on gambling than they do now. Georgians, for instance, (who rank Number One on the sucker index) spend ten times more per person on lottery tickets than North Carolinians.

To learn more about the troubling developments in predatory gambling and what the future may well hold for North Carolina, be sure to attend our upcoming Crucial Conversation on the subject on March 27. Click here for more information.[4]